Officer, that’s a handicapped spot

Friday, Jan. 21, was a very cold day and I wondered if it was worth getting out of bed to pick up a post office box of junk mail.

As I was passing the police station on Douglas in Elgin I found it hard to believe what I saw in front of the building. The station only has two handicap parking places and on this day they were both occupied.

One had a Kane County Sheriff’s squad car in it and the other had an Elgin police squad car in it. Neither, of course, had a permit to park there. I made a U-turn and parked in the wide open space between these two cars and called the dispatchers. I informed them that there were two dimbulbs parking illegally in front of their building.

Twenty minutes later two officers came out of the building and moved the cars. Neither car received the usual $250 ticket.

I have been turning in people like this for 20 years and it never ceases to amaze me how I can make a dozen calls on one location in less that a year without results.

I have written to the chief of police on this subject and, like his two predecessors, I never received a reply. It is clear that the subject is not important to them. At one time, the EPD was so indifferent to this problem that I was forced to make an arrangement with the Kane County States Attorney’s office and it was very successful. I had an agreement with the EPD at one time but it has clearly been discontinued.

In any case, the actions of these two official scofflaws who clearly should know better calls into question the level of professionalism that exists in both departments. Not only is it illegal to do what they did but it is thoughtless and indifferent to those who need those parking places.

Raleigh Sutton

Elgin